said to his patient, "You had better have the other out." "But perhaps it won't ache," expostulated the man. "Oh! yes, it will," replied Hook. But the other did not "see it," and said he would take his chance. After this Jim Hook told us a great story of a lady who came to him to have eight teeth extracted, and how she sat down, and how he had them all out in five minutes, and she never winced. Poor woman! But our friend is the doctor of the whole neighbourhood, as well as its dentist, and is called upon at all hours.

After the operation was over, Hook told his victim to go and fetch him a key from a cottage hard-bye, "and that would make it all square," and after that he could sit down and have something to eat and drink. Fancy eating just after such an operation! So the man set off, fetched the key, and then took a chair and a glass of beer (he did not eat), and the two immediately commenced a conversation, which resolved itself very quickly into an attempt to trade. Hook had some spare land, and the man's friends had a thousand more sheep coming, and wanted pasture for them, and Hook was ready to sell his land (which he said he had never seen) for 300 dollars-there were 40 acres the money to be paid at once, or by instalments with 6 per cent. interest, or what he would prefer, as he had no use for money, would be to trade land for stock. And so they went on, and we left them hard at it, though I fancy there was no bargain struck.

It was 8 o'clock before we reached Wilmington. The next day we all returned to Chicago, very well satisfied with our trip. The shooting had certainly not been first-rate, but we were too near a town, and we were without experience. I am convinced that it would be much better to choose September for this sport; the birds are then stronger on the wing, and the sun being no longer so powerful one can shoot all day. The proper plan would then be to take tents and cooking utensils, go into a wilder district, and camp out on the prairie; then I am sure one could have excellent sport. It is a wonder that there are any birds left in this part of the country; for, though the season in Illinois opens on the 15th August, the natives pay no regard to the law, and go out and butcher the chickens as early as July. But they are very prolific.

As to dogs, there is nothing like a setter. By all means take a couple of good setters with you, and do not trust to finding dogs on the spot. We made a great mistake in this, as we afterwards discovered, and lost much shooting in consequence.

Mr. Timid was introduced to my notice, in- connexion with the disastrous results of a long career of trading, by a solicitor of eminence. When I first made his acquaintance, I was struck by his downcast features and his hesitating pronunciation. He was no stammerer, but to a casual observer would pass as such. Let ever so simple a question

be propounded, his lips would appear to be in motion some seconds before any sound was heard; and, even then, the reply would be given with an amount of hesitation which frequently entailed great pain on the querist from the fear that he had not made his demand intelligible, or that some unpleasant reminiscence had been inadvertently raised in the mind of Mr. Timid.

My first impressions, I must confess, were not of a favourable character; and, as I had to put some questions of rather a strong cast, I naturally ascribed his hesitancy to the fact of my having hit some weak point in the case before me. True I could not reconcile the answers I received with my expected reasons for their delay, still I felt compelled to shape my inquiries in different forms to judge of the comparative value of his replies. If Mr. Timid had looked me straight in the face whilst I was endeavouring to probe the supposed fissure, I should have perhaps read a denial of my suspicions, and have been satisfied. This conrse of action would have saved much valuable time and expense in the preliminary investigations I had been instructed to institute.

Mr. Timid was the only son of a gentleman who formerly carried on a retail business in the neighbourhood of St. Paul's, and had contrived to keep up a most respectable appearance and standing in business and Corporation matters. He was one of the old-fashioned sort, whose boast it frequently was that, having been born a Cockney, he had never slept beyond the sound of Bow Bells since he had first started in the world. His shop was to him both town and country house; and he always declared the only place he desired to see his friends in was before his counter, when, as he used jocularly to observe, he made the most of their visits, as he had the double pleasure of cultivating their friendship and receiving its fruits at the same time in the shape of profits derived from their custom. So notorious was his strict attention to business that it seemed a marvel he should have married, as those who knew him best declared that he never went out, even to court his future wife. How this event occurred was indeed a mystery to many of his acquaintances, and would have remained so to his intimate circle, but for his telling them that his wife courted him and saved him all the trouble. She was the daughter of a close neighbour, and having entered the shop to make a purchase an acquaintance was commenced, which, at following interviews, ripened into affection and matrimony. From the shop to the church was but a trifling distance, and on the Sundays when the first was closed he was now a regular attendant at the latter. His wife had a very exalted opinion of her husband, and yielded implicit obedience to his will. She was indeed a mate to her master, and a word from him required no angry repetition to secure both assent and action. The servants had obedience to his will instilled into their minds as the chief requisite of their position, as, though disobedience to her wishes might be forgiven, the slightest neglect to her and their lord would be met with summary dismissal.

My client was the descendant of this happy couple, and their child was trained by his mother from his earliest infancy to have his father's opinion in the highest esteem. From infancy to childhood, from childhood to youth, from youth to manhood, both precept and example inculcated on his mind the utmost deference for his father's wisdom. Not a toy or necessary could be purchased for the child but this

: vil se frs oustined: not a pleasure offered for us tersane bere the good man's permission had been first Delray fr my clent this system was carried on to sun a verrod of us im nas be used not siestly on his own staff, DI TISHI Many a ne my me which time would most certainly brave in i Gius M. Time was brought up to have no mind if us wwi: mi vim iesti, ut a ne od age, deprived him of his imer. je vas jrmi a menunter the world with the same chance of a Slee suit as mit be expersed in taking a choice exotic from me steter of a geniuse and erosing it to the bitter winds of a But December : 1910

The good not ma a last siege w his fathers, and the son assumed is place in the shug, jer na domestic arrangements. Mrs. Timid, se nece al muted the Vs. Tad, for our new master had not been granted by us deceased parens with a wife as he had been with a jusness: consequmdy, everyting ecospired to render the mother the real head of the concern. She had lost ber adviser, and knew and souric 100 10w to replace him The aid servitors still remained, and the ad stugmen soll appeared to serve the old customers, and whilst these survived the business retained its ancient vigour and prestige. Time, however, is always on the wing, and as it flies by carries with it many changes, both men and excumstances. The old customers cvafizzed their econexion with the business from ancient habits and respect for their departed friend. Their habits had been studied for a long series of years, and their wants experiencing little variations were regularly and steady suppled One by one a well-known face would be missing; until at last oid enstomers, old shopmen, and old servitors, and the aged mother were gradually but surely summoned to "that bourne from which no traveller returns."

This has been the allotted portion of all men of business through all time, and such ever must and will be the change in all established connexions. Knowing this truth the reader will perhaps be inclined to wonder at my having thus delineated the results so generally understood. Let him, however, call to his mind that in all well-regulated establishments these changes are foreseen and provided for. As old customers die off, the necessary stock is laid in to meet the changing fashions and the requirements of a new class of buyers. As the old and faithful servant has died or been pensioned off, his successor has been ready to appear on the scene. The latter has been trained to meet all the emergencies of his position, and, whilst he retains the reverence due to the aged, knows how to adapt himself to the habits and wishes of those who may be expected to form a valuable rising connexion. The old stock has been kept down, and never allowed to grow on at the expense of capital which was required for the demands of change of time and style. Whilst sufficient was retained to comply with the desires of those who were too old to study fashion, and preferred ease for their money, the modern taste was also consulted in proportion, and the gay and youthful were not driven elsewhere to lay out their ready cash.

If Mr. Timid had been thus trained, he might still have been the possessor of a flourishing business, and now have held up his head instead of being the victim of his fallen fortunes. If he had been led to

study for himself mankind and commerce, he would have watched the tide at its ebb and flow, and known when and where to have steered his bark to avoid the shoals on which he was ultimately wrecked.

The principal portion of the deceased Mr. Timid's property consisted of the stock-in-trade and necessary adjuncts of his business and the customers' accounts. Though of a retiring, he was not of a penurious disposition, and had kept up a liberal establishment. Sticking closely to his shop, he had always declared that his shop should keep his family; and that family was well kept. His shopman and servants were liberally rewarded, and their interests were blended with his own. The son, though kept tied as it were to his mother's apron strings, had his wishes indulged to an extent and at a cost which might almost be considered excessive. To ask and to have seemed natural to all; and whilst the senior could pay his way he cared not to lay by for the future, secure in the assurance that his son would be well provided for in the succession to his trade when death or old age called himself from the active pursuits of life. My client had literally been born and nurtured in ease and comfort, and had acquired a taste for expense and luxury which was difficult to be put aside.

The accounts as well as the other dealings of the business had always been carried on by Mr. T. senr. or by an old clerk who had seen the commencement as well as the termination of his employer's career. Not a line in the well-thumbed day-book or the closely-kept ledger but was familiar to his ken. He knew the amount and value of every account and the extent and whereabouts of the stock. The son was never burdened with responsibility, and whilst he continued at home he fulfilled all the requirements of his fond and doting parents. In the trade both he and his father would sooner have been taken for shopmen than as principals by a stranger, for the whole of their aim appeared to be to converse with or to serve their friends and customers. That knowledge of the financial and working department which was connected with the counting-house was as strange to my client as if he never could have been expected at some future day to become the responsible head of the concern. Trained as he thus had been to play second fiddle not only to the leader but to the leader's business representative, we can fairly conceive the great peril the trade was in when the time came for him to assume the reins and guide the concern on his own account. So long as the business remained under the supervision of the aged clerk, who looked on the young man almost as a son, the cares of life seemed to glide by without calling for more than a passing remark. True, at the loss of every ancient customer, the returns were dwindling down by slow but successive decrease in trade; for the stock, not being of a class to draw the attention of the modern public, new faces did not appear on the scene to replace those who had so constantly bestowed their custom and patronage on its owner. To counterbalance this there was no necessity for replacing the articles now no longer wanted, and the stock was ample, though not of a description to command a ready sale. In the process of events, however, necessity forced upon my client the knowledge that his trade was rapidly declining; and when on the death of the veteran clerk a new manager was appointed, the latter soon discovered the real position of affairs. He

was to transact busiHe found the ware

jet me te my va ser de encer 15 I KETING vi i Ert of the dnes. knees and the ang sundei vige panses of goods, but of an 10kura insonga ni m KT 1 n demand. He zaddy and ne man bere is agioyer, and aged on him to 1 km i nammenras vine vs vould be likely to comcand ne recon of the punde: mi as the days of high prices were gne in a fer goods fixed a palty and cost to meet the opposition SVIg 1 KTi m. The stica of the premises would command 1 mm Tief ne kete of matomers could be attracted to mer summetines.

W-mi resented a the necessity for some change, since he could behind as the defcency of primers, which was daily becoming TUTE BETES: NE NAVIP SUV in the habits of his father, be sold mcly be persuaded that the fat bay with the nature and press if is sex-- Vred with all his natural and acquired nehoden, le vis possessed ad remain habits of refection, and he and served in the Gazete the appearance of many modern trades. Ee had nos sufferent sirevizese inmine and stay for himself the renecos if their fire, bas escaned himself with comparing the pamerous instances there contained with the ecmparatively small numbers who had been bankraps in His father's time. He did not consider that where & ceny age the persons carrying on any specific business were but few, in these days of increased population their name would be comparatively legica, and the risks of failure multiplied in

the same rati

He therefore met the advice of his manager by pointing out some case of successful venture, and asserted that the cause lay in the departure from the cd legitimate style of trading as carried on by his father. He was sure that the publie would soon become tired with the goods now foreed on the market, and that shopkeepers must make a rise in their prices to obtain sufficient prodts to carry out a successful business. He did not understand the true axiom that "the first loss is the least," and instead of creating a demand for goods which were lying useless in his warehouses by reducing their prices, he held on in Expes of better times, and did not meet the emergency with the advised requisite promptitude. Accordingly, year by year, the interest of the laid-up stock was lost, in addition to the certain depreciation of age and its consequent concurrences-moth, rust, and decay.

The houses with whom purchases were negociated were glad of such a purchaser, for, being always behind the mode, they were certain of a customer of stock which would otherwise have remained on hand. The goods offered to him were such as remained from the demands of a now-glutted market. A novelty would have been no temptation to Mr. Timid-rather a hindrance in the way of a desired sale; and should anyone have thus approached him he would have stood a fair chance of losing any further favours. It was not, then, to be wondered at that by slow, yet certain, steps difficulties foreshadowed themselves to the minds both of my client and his manager, and the consultations as to ways and means were frequently forced upon them at the recurrence of their monthly and quarterly engagements. The